Book update April 2009-April 2010
Here are the remainder of the books I've tracked in the last 12 months. I know I read more than this-- at least a couple more anyway, but I forgot to write them down.
New reads are marked with a dash and rated out of five stars.
- 14. Long Way Down, Nick Hornby. I remember thinking that this book was utterly brilliant, and wishing I'd thought of the premise myself. Four strangers meet on the top of a tall building on New Year's Eve because each has gone up to commit suicide. Trading off chapters, they tell their stories of what brought them to the roof, and what might bring them back down again. *****
15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling. re-read and still brilliant.
- 16. The Tales of Beetle the Bard, JK Rowling. Better than I thought. I was expecting traditional "fairy tales," but found instead another dose of Rowling's creative mind. Love this woman. My only wish was that this book was longer. *****
- 17. Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity, Adam Hamilton. A book of sermon manuscripts, essentially, which I read for work. I enjoyed it thoroughly, thought, for what it was, and found it very helpful and relevant to what my church needed. ****
- 18. Enough: Program Guide, Adam Hamilton. The how-to companion book put together with the above manuscript collection and the DVDrom made for an excellent and highly effective stewardship program. I highly recommend this church stewardship program, especially for churches that struggle with fear and scarcity rather than living out of abundance (which are all the churches I know of anyway). *****
19. Luck in the Shadows, Lynn Flewelling (otterdance ). Oh Lynn, how I love you.
20. Stalking Darkness, Lynn Flewelling. Ditto.
- 21. Namaah's Kiss, Jaqueline Carey. I really enjoyed this book. Set in the same world as the Kushiel's series, but many generations later, readers are invited to continue exploring Carey's unique world, this time with hardly any violent sex. Hurrah. The female narrator was finally one with whom I could resonate much better and about whom I cared at least a little. Good read. ****
- 22. Ordinary World, Eliza Lorello. The sequel to Faking It begins with a shock: the death of one of the previous novel's main characters. Unfortunately, it was a character I'd found underdeveloped in FI, and so the emotional impact wasn't as strong as I would have hoped, and I thought the narrator was looking back at that character through the rose-colored lenses of loss, although the writing didn't suggest that this was intentional. Again, I fall back to my writing professor's main instruction: show and don't tell. I felt like Eliza told us how wonderful this character was but didn't totally show us. Anyway, with that character out of the picture, the main character must navigate her life in healing and seeking joy again. She seems to underplay how deep joy can be again. While nothing and no one replaces those we love and lose, I think we can love deeply again and find that there is another "one" out there for us. Anyway, as my deep thinking about this book suggests, I found it both enjoyable and thought-provoking, and thought it showed growth over its prequel. It is also my first e-book read entirely on my iPhone, which was not as bad an experience as I had feared. Overall, well done. ****
Like I said, I know there were more...
New reads are marked with a dash and rated out of five stars.
- 14. Long Way Down, Nick Hornby. I remember thinking that this book was utterly brilliant, and wishing I'd thought of the premise myself. Four strangers meet on the top of a tall building on New Year's Eve because each has gone up to commit suicide. Trading off chapters, they tell their stories of what brought them to the roof, and what might bring them back down again. *****
15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling. re-read and still brilliant.
- 16. The Tales of Beetle the Bard, JK Rowling. Better than I thought. I was expecting traditional "fairy tales," but found instead another dose of Rowling's creative mind. Love this woman. My only wish was that this book was longer. *****
- 17. Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity, Adam Hamilton. A book of sermon manuscripts, essentially, which I read for work. I enjoyed it thoroughly, thought, for what it was, and found it very helpful and relevant to what my church needed. ****
- 18. Enough: Program Guide, Adam Hamilton. The how-to companion book put together with the above manuscript collection and the DVDrom made for an excellent and highly effective stewardship program. I highly recommend this church stewardship program, especially for churches that struggle with fear and scarcity rather than living out of abundance (which are all the churches I know of anyway). *****
19. Luck in the Shadows, Lynn Flewelling (otterdance ). Oh Lynn, how I love you.
20. Stalking Darkness, Lynn Flewelling. Ditto.
- 21. Namaah's Kiss, Jaqueline Carey. I really enjoyed this book. Set in the same world as the Kushiel's series, but many generations later, readers are invited to continue exploring Carey's unique world, this time with hardly any violent sex. Hurrah. The female narrator was finally one with whom I could resonate much better and about whom I cared at least a little. Good read. ****
- 22. Ordinary World, Eliza Lorello. The sequel to Faking It begins with a shock: the death of one of the previous novel's main characters. Unfortunately, it was a character I'd found underdeveloped in FI, and so the emotional impact wasn't as strong as I would have hoped, and I thought the narrator was looking back at that character through the rose-colored lenses of loss, although the writing didn't suggest that this was intentional. Again, I fall back to my writing professor's main instruction: show and don't tell. I felt like Eliza told us how wonderful this character was but didn't totally show us. Anyway, with that character out of the picture, the main character must navigate her life in healing and seeking joy again. She seems to underplay how deep joy can be again. While nothing and no one replaces those we love and lose, I think we can love deeply again and find that there is another "one" out there for us. Anyway, as my deep thinking about this book suggests, I found it both enjoyable and thought-provoking, and thought it showed growth over its prequel. It is also my first e-book read entirely on my iPhone, which was not as bad an experience as I had feared. Overall, well done. ****
Like I said, I know there were more...